Ashley Gets Lost

If we’re friends on social media, you already know this, but MY SHIT IS HERE!!!

Here it is mostly consolidated to one room, which would not have been my preference as it was hard to get to things and organize them, but I was not here to supervise box placement when they arrived. It feels so strange to be “moving in” my stuff five months after we got here, but it’s so exciting!

I had stayed the night at Olya’s on Thursday so we could do girl business. And by girl business I mean eat pizza and drink wine and go through her wardrobe, complete with a low rent fashion show of me trying on the clothes she didn’t want to keep. On Friday morning I did some town business, which included getting my new leather purse fixed. That baby can pack a lot of weight, and one of the rivets holding a strap up popped out. So I stopped by the leather shop where I bought it, and an older gentleman fixed her right up for me! I’m lucky it happened now as they’ll be closing for the winter next month.

Obviously the first box I opened when I got home was the one that had my quilts in it! I hugged them and petted them and immediately put one on the back of the couch. The rest were in a pile on the coffee table, and Cong knew exactly what a kitty is supposed to do when faced with a pile of quilts. (Surprise, I dyed my hair!)

Just look at this little baby! He’s actually a gigantic baby and will no doubt grow into a mighty liger, but he’s still just a baby.

I also popped a few treasures out right away, including the mighty conch, and put a few pieces of art on the walls on preexisting nails or screws. They’re not in their final resting places, but I immediately felt my batteries charge up at seeing things I absolutely love and maybe even made myself on my walls.

I found my fridge magnets on Saturday, and I was silly levels of excited about putting these up! Our fridge in America was only magnetic on the sides, so I’m thrilled to have magnets on the face of my fridge. Peep that vintage picture of the mister and I from 2005.

Other exciting finds include but are not limited to:

• My crystal skull vodka bottle, which I thought for sure I had not kept. Past me knew that future me would still consider this trash to be absolute treasure.
• My label maker! I have my spices in glass jars. I wrote on the tops of some of them, but I have been waiting to make them fun labels. I’m tired of having to smell a few similar looking ones to decipher their powers. I’m looking at you, chili powder (which I think might actually be cayenne in disguise), hot paprika, and regular paprika.
• All the underwear I didn’t pack for the plane.
• A box labeled “Ashley and Joshua’s clothing” that actually contained all my lingerie, wigs, and burlesque shoes. I did not find anything belonging to Joshua in there, but I will put some on and let him admire me in the future.
• My crystal goblets from Ireland.

So far out of all the fragile things we’ve unpacked, we’ve had one broken glass. Everything else has made it perfectly. Our real estate agent in America hired a professional organizer/packer for a couple days to help me, and she was worth her weight in gold. She is actually a tiny little lady, so perhaps she’s worth more than her weight in gold. I ended up hiring her myself to have her help me pack my sewing room.

It was also really helpful having an outside party help me decide what to keep on things I was a little wishy washy about, which is probably why I still have my crystal skull. She made me feel so comfortable and capable, which is hard to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed by condensing ten years worth of stuff in a large house down to the barest essentials and most prized possessions. Thank you Melissa! YOU are a treasure.

In random other news, I saw this tail sticking out from under the ramp at the grocery store. I poked it, and you’ll never guess what was under there. Friends, it was a cat. Hahaha!

I would also like to share this racist air freshener with you. I am disappointed that I didn’t attempt to smell it, but I will on my next trip down the hill. What if it’s the best smell ever? If it smells like an actual white girl in a Native American headdress, I’m not sure if that’s the aroma vibe I’d like to cultivate.

We’ve been holding/feeding/petting this sweet little baby down at the taverna for a few weeks now, and his eye is getting bad. Since he is easy to snatch, I’m going to talk to the vet today about getting him treated. His other eye looks watery too, and he needs at least one! Poor guy is just starting out in life and winter is coming. I think vets here provide free or cheap treatments for common illnesses for the street cats.

And here’s a scene from last night after dinner. All my best boys on one wing of the couch! I walked home from dinner alone last night, and I can officially report that the walk is 0.8 miles and takes 15 or so minutes depending on breaks. And yes, a break or two is required to catch one’s breath. The elevation gain is serious. It’s all UP UP UP.

Joshua and I are going to go to town in a bit to source alternate lighting. We’ve been living a harsh overhead lighting lifestyle for five months now, and I want to get the things to rewire the lamps I brought and possible get some new ones. We’re also gonna go check on how the legal situation with our scooter is going. Apparently someone has to go to the police and register the change in ownership, and it hasn’t happened yet.

Please wish me luck in the search for my hot glue gun. I have a Halloween costume I need to get to work on soon!